Spanish masters clash in final
ALBERT Ramos-vinolas beat Lucas Pouille 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 yesterday to reach the clay-court Monte Carlo Masters final.
Although the 15th-seeded Ramos Vinolas has never previously reached a Masters final and has won only one career title, he has good credentials on clay, having got to the French Open quarter-finals last year.
The 29-year-old Spaniard will now play defending champion Rafael Nadal, who overcame 10th-seeded David Goffin of Belgium, later yesterday.
The earlier semi-final saw two players who made significant breakthroughs last year, with Pouille, 23, reaching Grand Slam quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open. Pouille had won their only previous match two years ago, in straight sets, on outdoor hard courts in Auckland.
With the sun shining and warm temperatures, the conditions were perfect for clay-court tennis on the idyllic centre court perched above the glittering Mediterranean sea.
Ramos-vinolas took the first set when he broke the 11th-seeded Frenchman to love, concluding with a smash at the net.
Pouille missed a chance to break in the ninth game of the second set, meaning he was serving to stay in the match. After holding easily with a neat volley at the net, Pouille got the crowd going and then played his best tennis of the match.
He broke Ramos-vinolas in the next game when the Spaniard hit a forehand long, and Pouille levelled the match on his own serve. But he seemed to be struggling physically in the deciding set.
At 3-0 down, Pouille needed treatment to his lower back and hips for about four minutes during the changeover.
His power went after that and the inevitable conclusion happened when Pouille dropped his serve again in the seventh game.
Ramos-vinolas has one career title – on outdoor clay by the sea in Bastad, Sweden – and has lost three other finals, including this year on outdoor clay at Sao Paulo.
Nadal stayed on course for a record-extending 10th Monte Carlo Masters championship when he beat Goffin 6-3, 6-1 after the Belgian was denied a key point in controversial fashion.
The 10th-seeded Goffin was 3-2 up and on game point when chair umpire Cedric Mourier ruled a Nadal shot was in but the Hawkeye system, which is not being used by officials on clay, showed the ball was long.
The point was replayed and fourth seed Nadal went on to break back before winning 10 of the remaining 11 games.
The Monte Carlo Country Club crowd booed Mourier and a dejected Goffin did not shake the umpire’s hand at the end of the match. “I imagine the ball was out but I was on the other side, I could not see the mark,” said Nadal.
Goffin made a brilliant start, playing aggressively and breaking in the third game as ninetimes French Open champion Nadal looked clumsy.
The fourth-seeded Spaniard returned long on game point in the sixth game and the line umpire called the ball out but he was overruled by Mourier, who got off his chair to show Goffin a mark – the wrong one.
“It’s wrong, it’s wrong,” said Goffin, who eventually lost the 17-minute game after wasting other game points.
The Belgian never recovered and Nadal blazed through the rest of the match, which he won in less than an hour.
Meanwhile it’s reported from Constanta, Romania, that former tennis bad boy Ilie Nastase found himself in deep water yesterday after being booted out of Romania’s Fed Cup tie against Britain, a day after allegations that he made a derogatory comment about Serena Williams’ unborn child.
The 70-year-old former French Open and US Open champion, who is captain of Romania’s Fed Cup team, was sent from his courtside chair after apparently aiming abuse at the umpire, British player Johanna Konta and visiting captain Anne Keothavong during the second singles rubber.
World number seven Konta was in tears when play was briefly suspended at the tie in Constanta where she was up against Sorana Cirstea, apparently because of remarks made by Nastase.
He was eventually excluded from the tie because of “unsportsmanlike conduct”.
Konta recovered her composure to win the last five games for a 6-2, 6-3 victory that levelled up the tie at 1-1 after Romania’s number one Simona Halep had beaten Heather Watson.
“Mr Nastase was also removed from the grounds due to his serious misconduct,” the ITF said in a second statement. “His accreditation is removed and he will play no further part in the tie.
“The ITF has launched an investigation into this matter as well as previous comments made by Mr Nastase during the week.”
British captain Keothavong, who said she was made to feel “uncomfortable” by comments made by Nastase at the official pre-match dinner, said the abuse during play had been unacceptable.
“We expected a patriotic crowd for the Romanian team but we don’t expect abusive language to be used ... what he said directed to both Johanna and myself is... language that is not appropriate for anyone to speak to any other human.”
ITF president David Haggerty said: “This is unacceptable behaviour by a Fed Cup captain, and Mr Nastase will rightly play no further part in this tie."
Nastase, whose behaviour on court during his career often landed him trouble and earned him the nickname 'Nasty', began the tie under a cloud after remarks overheard at the official draw ceremony on Friday.
He was heard speaking in Romanian to one of his team members about Williams’ baby.
“Let’s see what colour it has. Chocolate with milk?” he was quoted by Romanian and some British media as saying.
Williams, who confirmed her pregnancy through on Wednesday, is engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who is white. – Reuters